


Winter Storm Warning

by valda



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Reckless Driving, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 23:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9850898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valda/pseuds/valda
Summary: Hux is always prepared...or at least, he tries to be. But somehow, nothing can ever quite prepare him for Kylo.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was prompted by an anon on Tumblr: "Kylux major winter storm preparations? They decide to wait out the storm at Hux's place. Hux has got his emergency food rations, dozens of cans of soup, all the winter clothes ready, ice melt, logs for the fire, 2000 candles and a generator in case the power goes out. Ren comes over with nothing but a black hoodie and a toboggan." Originally posted [here](http://cosleia.tumblr.com/post/155882954958/kylux-major-winter-storm-preparations-they). No particular content warnings (other than PLEASE do not follow Hux and Ren's example during winter weather), but it's rated T for Teen due to bad language and a dirty joke.

Hux stared.

“Hey,” Kylo grinned, giving him a little wave. When Hux didn’t answer, didn’t move, simply stood there holding the door open and gaping at him, Kylo’s cheerful smile faltered. “Uh. What?”

“…I don’t believe you,” Hux finally managed.

“What?” Kylo repeated, blinking.

“This,” Hux said helplessly, finally letting go of the door so he could gesture with both hands at Kylo. “You. This. I.”

“Oh, the toboggan?” Kylo hoisted the wooden sled with one hand. “It’s a little beat up, sure, but it’s got it where it counts.”

Hux frowned and shook his head, fighting to get more words to come out, and in the right order. “No. I mean… _what are you wearing_?”

“Clothes?” Kylo looked a little put out. “You didn’t tell me this was going to be a formal affair.”

“ _Kylo_ ,” Hux sighed, trying not to seethe, “we could be _trapped_  in here for _days_. We could lose power. You didn’t wear snow boots. You didn’t wear a _coat_. You didn’t bring any extra clothes.”

“…huh,” Kylo said, setting the toboggan down and scratching his head.

“Not to mention you could have helped with rations. Did you even think about going to the store?”

Kylo shrugged his hands into his pockets, hunching his shoulders sheepishly. “You got stuff, right?”

Hux sighed. “Yes. There’s probably enough food and bottled water for both of us. My clothes won’t fit you, though.”

“You like how I look in your t-shirts,” Kylo grinned.

Hux coughed delicately into his hand. “Yes. Well. Go home and pack some winter clothes. Sweaters, more jeans, a real coat. Scarf, hat, gloves.”

“All right, fine,” Kylo groused. “Worrywart.” He turned to head back off the porch, pulling his keys out of his pocket—but before he’d even taken one step, the dark clouds above them opened up and a flood of hail came pouring down. The torrent of ice pelted the grass, pounded the roof, and  _pinged_  off Kylo’s truck in the driveway.

“Shit,” Kylo said as an especially large ball of hail slammed into the porch directly in front of his feet.

“Inside,” Hux yelled, grabbing Kylo by the hood and yanking him into the house.

For a long moment they stood silently in Hux’s entry hall, listening to the muffled clatter of the hail on the roof. Finally Hux crossed his arms and sighed. “I wasn’t expecting hail. I’m sorry, Kylo. I should have thought of this. I don’t have a two-car garage. I should have picked you up so you could have left your truck in your garage. And if I’d picked you up, I could have helped you pack. This is a mess, I should have—”

“Hux,” Kylo interrupted. Hux looked up to see that Kylo’s eyes had gone soft. Comforting. _Condescending_. “It’s okay. You don’t have to think of everything.”

Hux scoffed. “Yes I do,” he said, looking away again. “No one else will.”

Kylo huffed out a breath. “Okay,” he said. “Right.” And then he was opening the front door.

“Are you _insane_?” Hux grabbed Kylo’s arm. “Get back here, you’re not going anywhere.”

“I’d rather not stay _here_ ,” Kylo said, which surprised Hux enough that he dropped his arm.

“You—what?”

“I’ll be fine, I’ll go home, there’s stuff. I won’t use up your precious supplies.”

Kylo stalked out the door, snatching up the toboggan as he passed it. He held the sled over his head and ran for his truck. The sound of splintering wood joined the riot of hail noise; Kylo discarded the ruined sled when he got to his truck, diving into the driver’s seat and slamming the door.

Hux could only watch, stunned, as the pickup roared to life and backed out of the driveway. Enough hail had already accumulated that this was tricky; Kylo skidded a little when he made it to the street.

“Kylo,” Hux yelled, but Kylo didn’t turn, didn’t look at him, kept staring resolutely ahead as he shifted the truck into drive and fishtailed down the street. The truck’s cab was already dented. Would the windshield hold out?

“Shit,” Hux said, backing through his front door and easing it closed. “Shit.” He slumped down to sit on the staircase. “Shit.”

If he went after Kylo, he might get into an accident. If he called or texted Kylo, the distraction might cause Kylo to get into an accident. Those two thoughts circled round and round in Hux’s head as he stared blankly at the door, willing it to open, willing Kylo to magically appear.

Time passed; Hux wasn’t sure how much. And then the deafening pounding of the hail grew quieter, shifted to a patter, then the occasional plunk, and then, finally, nothing.

Hux sprang up and threw the door open. The hail had indeed stopped, leaving an icy sheen over everything. Blades of grass poked out between mounds of crystal.

Surely Kylo had made it home by now. Hux pulled out his phone and tapped the first number on his favorites a bit more violently than was necessary. The ringing was infuriating; Hux bounced on the balls of his feet, willing it to stop, willing Kylo to answer. But when the rings finally did stop, Hux’s call went to voicemail.

He hung up and tried a text instead. _Kylo, did you make it home all right?_  Then he paced the front porch, his breath misting in the air before him, glaring at his phone. The message was delivered, but the status never switched to “Read”.

“Damn it,” Hux hissed, his chest tight. “Damn it.” He charged back into the house, slamming the front door, stalking through the kitchen to the garage. In moments he was negotiating the same perilous driveway Kylo had.

This was lunacy. The roads were covered in ice. It could start hailing again at any time. Hux could get himself killed doing this.

His knuckles went white on the steering wheel.

The drive took far longer than it normally would. Hux went slowly, running his tires up against the curb for traction, heedless of the fact that the horrific screeching meant he was destroying his rims. The ice had started melting in places due to the stored heat of the asphalt, but the melting and subsequent refreezing made it even more difficult to tell which patches were frozen and which weren’t. At one point there was no curb at all and Hux went partially into the grass.

He was on the alert for any signs of Kylo. A few times he thought he recognized tire tracks from Kylo’s truck, but he couldn’t be sure. He checked every ditch he came across and was thankful each time to find nothing.

Hux finally turned onto Kylo’s street, and there, parked in front of Kylo’s house, was Kylo’s truck. He let out what he’d thought was going to be a sigh of relief, but it turned into a sob instead, and then Hux was outright bawling. He threw his car into park, set the emergency brake, cut the engine, and scrambled out, crunching and fighting his way across the mess of hail to Kylo’s front door.

“Kylo!” he yelled, pounding at the door, tears streaming down his face. “Kylo!”

The door opened. “What?” Kylo said, sounding irritated, but then he stopped, staring. “Hux—”

And Hux threw himself at Kylo, flung his arms around his neck and held tight. “Thank fuck,” he shuddered, hot tears painting Kylo’s neck. “Thank _fuck_.” His whole body was shaking. “You idiot,” he whispered. “You idiot, you could have _died_ ,” and then no more words would come, and he held on for dear life.

Kylo’s arms wrapped slowly around him, one at his waist and the other coming up to grip his shoulder, and Kylo walked backward, pulling Hux inside. “Hux,” he said, sounding lost, but Hux only found himself crying harder. “Um. I’m gonna close the door, okay? Just a second,” and one of Kylo’s arms shifted, and the door closed, and then Kylo was holding him again, walking him further into the house.

They ended up on Kylo’s couch, Hux sobbing in Kylo’s lap. Kylo held him and rocked him a little and kissed his hair, and Hux drew in a long, shuddery breath. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess,” he managed.

“You really pissed me off,” Kylo said quietly. “I’m kind of still mad.”

Hux felt a flare of anger in his own gut. “I don’t want to lose you,” he said, pulling back to look Kylo in the eyes. “You shouldn’t have left just because I said something stupid. _You could have died_.”

Kylo swallowed, glancing away. “You could have died too, coming here,” he said.

Hux buried his face in Kylo’s neck. “Yes.”

Kylo tightened his arms around Hux. “Thank you,” he said. “For coming.” He kissed Hux’s temple, sighed, and added, “It’s a good thing, too, because I was lying before. I don’t have any supplies here.”

Hux froze. “You…don’t have anything?”

“I mean, there might be some takeout leftovers, maybe a frozen dinner? So it’s good that you came, you…” Kylo trailed off. “You brought stuff, right?”

Squeezing his eyes shut, Hux groaned into Kylo’s neck. “I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t thinking anything except that I had to find you.”

Kylo blinked, his eyelashes fluttering against Hux’s ear. “Oh.”

Hux snorted, then snorted again, and then he was shaking. At first he thought he was crying again, but then he realized he was laughing. “Aren’t we just a pair of fools?”

“We’re pretty amazing,” Kylo agreed, and then he was laughing too. They laughed together, incredulous, helpless laughter, until they were too exhausted to laugh anymore.

Hux nuzzled into Kylo’s chest. “If worse comes to worst, I can always just eat you,” he murmured.

“Nice,” Kylo retorted. Then, “Hmm,” he said thoughtfully. “There’s protein in come, right?”


End file.
